LeBron James has won four NBA championships in his career, and Lonzo Ball believes one of those title runs is the greatest in league history. Ball recently declared that the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ 2016 ring sits right at the top of the mountain.
“I’ll stamp it and say this is the greatest ring of all time,” Ball said. “… Who else came back from 3-1? … 40s from your greatest…2 giving you 80.”
The Cavaliers’ incredible comeback from down 3-1 against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals does put this ring in that conversation. No team had ever overturned that deficit in the Finals, and it had seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Warriors would be walking away with the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Despite the odds being stacked against them, the Cavaliers didn’t throw in the towel. James and Kyrie Irving scored 41 points each in Game 5 to power their team to a 112-97 win. They became the first teammates ever to score more than 40 points in the same Finals game that night.
James then scored 41 points again in Game 6 as the Cavaliers tied the series at 3-3 with a 115-101 win. They now had all the momentum heading into the do-or-die Game 7, while all the pressure was on the Warriors.
That final game would prove to be a classic, with 20 lead changes and 11 ties. The score was tied at 89 for nearly four minutes in the fourth quarter before Irving hit a memorable clutch three-pointer over Stephen Curry with 53 seconds remaining.
The Warriors were unable to respond, and the Cavaliers would go on to win Game 7 93-89. With that, they completed what is regarded by many as the greatest comeback in NBA history.
James averaged 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 2.6 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game against the Warriors. He led both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.
Irving, meanwhile, put up 27.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.1 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game in the Finals. He admitted that he barely slept the night before Game 7 and was quite nervous. Despite that, Irving still hit arguably the greatest clutch shot in NBA history to win his first championship.
As for James, it was his third title. Spearheading that incredible comeback made him believe he is the greatest player of all time.
“That moment I was like, I am the greatest basketball player people have ever seen in all the facets,” James said. “Like I can play 1 to 5, I can guard 1 to 5, just literally like doing something that’s never been done in the history of the sport. Teams that go down 3-1 were like 0 for 32 in Finals history. There was nobody ever coming out of there, and nobody gave us a chance. I just felt like ain’t nobody better than me at this.”
James has since gone on to win another title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, further strengthening his case to be regarded as the greatest ever. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, haven’t come close to winning a title since his departure in 2018.
Ball is hoping to change that, with the Chicago Bulls trading him to the Cavaliers this offseason for Isaac Okoro. It will be interesting to see what kind of impact the 27-year-old makes for his new team.
